Fielding coach Munish Bali praises ‘impact player’ Amanjot Kaur for all-round show in third T20I

Mumbai, Dec 11 (IANS) India fielding coach Munish Bali showered praise on seam-bowling all-rounder Amanjot Kaur, calling her as an ‘impact player’ for showcasing all-round heroics and helping the hosts’ beat England by five wickets in the third and final T20I of the series.

At the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday, Amanjot picked 2-25 in her three overs and took a splendid catch to dismiss Bess Heath. With the bat, she took two fours off top-ranked T20I bowler Sophie Ecclestone to make an unbeaten ten off just four balls and take India home in the chase of 127 with an over to spare.

“She’s an impact player; if you see she came and bowled the fourth over in the powerplay and bowled very well. She fielded very well. She bowled for 3-4 overs yesterday (during second T20I on Saturday) and made an immediate impact with a brilliant catch.”

“When we were chasing (on Sunday), 12 off 12 balls, the first ball she (faced was) whipped through the covers by her,” said Bali in the post-match press conference.

Amanjot made her T20I debut earlier this year against South Africa and earned the Player of the Match award quickly for making 41 not out off 28. Since then, she’s played nine T20I games and even debuted in ODIs too.

Though India lost the series 2-1, they had a huge positive in fast-bowler Renuka Singh Thakur coming back to action post a stress fracture injury. In the series, Renuka had figures of 3/27, 2/26, and 2/23, giving India a good start with her lines and lengths.

“She knows her game very well; she sticks to her limitations and knows the areas where she’s bowling and is very smart with her proceedings. She knows the areas she wants to hit and she is doing exactly that,” added Bali.

Though India put up a better fielding performance on Sunday, the first two matches didn’t go that way and Bali felt the team playing under lights after a long time had some effect too, while adding that the newcomers are bringing in the youthful energy to fielding.

“We played a day-night game after almost six to seven months. The last game that the girls had played was in WPL, after that they have not played in the night time. It is always very difficult as a team when you are playing after six-seven months. But we started practising and get used to under lights that is why the results are coming.”

“Fielding and fitness goes side by side. So, we are working on fitness as well as fielding aspect. It is going well so far. If you are fit enough, you are a good fielder. Amanjot, Jemimah and Shreyanka are supremely fit.”

“After the Bangladesh series, we played after a long time and have now many newcomers in the team. We have very good youngsters in the team who are very energetic. We are progressing well and look forward to the next series.”